Happy Valentine's Day!

2010 comes in roaring like a lion

I have not only missed our 19 month birthday, but also the 20 month birthday! I'll write a separate entry for those...needless to say, the year moved nicely from a leisurely, much needed break in Maui to breakneck speed once we got back!

I wanted to take and space some time to reflect on the death of my grandfather. He died this past Sunday at 92 and while not a total surprise, it certainly wasn't expected. My grandpa was often a hard man growing up. He was business oriented, traditional, and judgmental...but age and health problems had softened him and the grandpa I re-visited in my adult years was nothing like the grandpa I remembered of my youth. He smiled more, cracked jokes, told stories, and cried. He got to meet Joaquin twice and spent time with him playing on the floor and tickling his feet. I am so grateful that we had that opportunity and Joaquin had that touch point with him. I am so sad that we did not get more time with this man I feel like we had just started getting to know.

I wonder if everyone feels this...was I really too busy to put together that DVD for him for the holidays? I hope he felt loved and appreciated by us. I hope he continues that journey he was on of 'softening' and I hope he is finally free of the aches and pains that ailed him in his final years. 92 years...what a life, what opportunity...what a blessing to meet the man he had become.

And Maui to start the new year...

Wow, we are a lucky family. Not only did we get to have our first week of the new year in Maui, but we all traveled really well together!

We had a great time in Maui and it was a much needed break for everyone. Lots of beaches, biking down the volcano, Maui's only winery, and casual BBQ's around our condo's pool. The weather was great all week and it was an easy trip...which is more than I could have asked for after the winter! Here are some of my favorite pics:

Our different Christmas

So how did Christmas go? In general, pretty good. He did have one present under the tree and I have to say it was the best possible present for him...a set of 3 balls. His big bouncy ball had just popped, so that went over fabulously. He got a couple of singing cards which he walked around with throughout the holiday, a couple of beautiful hats my co-worker made for him and these slippers from Mark and Sally which he is quite fond of. When he first got them, he wanted to walk around naked except the slippers for some time! And mom brought over a rocking horse a few weeks before that was great for pics.


I will say that the one thing I missed about having gifts at Christmas is the structure they offer around the day...when you have a tree full of gifts, you set a time to all sit around and open those gifts. It's a nice chunk of time with the TV off and the carols on...we'll have to figure that one out because minus that, it went along smashingly and we had a great payoff when we all went to Maui the next week! Before we went to Maui though, we had a fun time with Gid's family doing New Year's. Joaquin liked playing Rock Band in particular!

Enjoying the spirit of the season

This semester was so overwhelming for me...I'm mentally and physically exhausted. I've had no time for anything non-essential and that means we got to the beginning of December without any Christmas gifts. So it came out of necessity, but it has been so pleasant that I think we may continue it...we've stepped out of commercial Christmas for the most part this year.

When someone called us to ask what we would like, we said, how about we don't exchange gifts this year? We're not doing a card, facebook will suffice this year. We're going on vacation with my family in lieu of gifts for those who are closest to us. I've made more charitable donations. And we did buy a few things over the internet--but only a few and the people and things have been very carefully chosen.

The result? We have one gift under our tree and I don't expect that to change...but we've taken walks with Joaquin to look at Christmas lights, he rode his first merry go round at Knott's county employee day, and I spent Thanksgiving at the beach with Joaquin running around with Bailey. We have not set foot in a crowded store or mall and I am getting all zen and spiritual about it. I don't know how I'll feel Christmas day when we would normally be opening presents and there are none, but the lead up feels pretty darn good.

18 months

Joaquin is 18 months old. Well...he's now almost 19, isn't he? I am consistently late now and I guess that's ok. He's got an extensive vocabulary. I had not counted before his appointment, but that's a check box on the 18 month one and so I started counting when I got in the car: mama, daddy, dog, woof, car, bubbles, ball, ice, hohoho (yes..."what does santa say?"), car (his new favorite...he likes to shout this when he goes by one), poop (which refers to anything that's a mess on the floor or in his diaper), food, see, again, tea, pop, shoes, again...I'm sure I'm forgetting some. What's most impressive though is his use of sentences..."Did you see?", "Mama, does daddy see?", "My dog!", "Our car", (I say "Are you hungry?") he answers "For food?"

We're up to 11 teeth...the front 8 and 3 molars. I can see all 4 incisors popping their heads through and the last molar as well. He's up to 2'10" and 38 lbs. He has curls all over, which is unusual and I love that. I can now see why mommies don't cut their little boys hair...how do I say goodbye to those beautiful curls?

This month, he decided instead of fitting into things, he could start climbing on top of things by himself. This is him after he got into the rocker in his room all by himself...Gid comes out of his room and says, "Why'd you put him in the rocker?" and I say, "I didn't," so we go to look and there he is clapping for himself.

17 months

Another month where it is nearly closer to the next rather than the actual birthday! I did want to record my observations from the 16-17 month mark though. He got his first molar (bottom left) this month at 16.5 and already has his second (bottom right) right about now at 17.5. He started to talk alot more too, but with sentences that we can't understand. That's cute because he'll tell you something that you can't understand (Bah Dah Bum So?) and you'll say, "What's that buddy?" and then he'll just repeat it back to you the same way.


He continues to be mommy's little helper...he takes rags and wipes things down. This month though, the fun thing was that he decided he wanted to fit himself into things. You can see the beginning of this in this 16 month picture...that's him sitting in the firewood holder. He continued that and would even get upset when he couldn't get himself into things (one day we brought home a shoebox...not so much). Here are some pics of him fitting into things: